A variety of surgical instruments include an end effector having a blade element that vibrates at ultrasonic frequencies to cut and/or seal tissue (e.g., by denaturing proteins in tissue cells). These instruments include piezoelectric elements that convert electrical power into ultrasonic vibrations, which are communicated along an acoustic waveguide to the blade element. Examples of such ultrasonic surgical instruments include the HARMONIC ACE® Ultrasonic Shears, the HARMONIC WAVE® Ultrasonic Shears, the HARMONIC FOCUS® Ultrasonic Shears, and the HARMONIC SYNERGY® Ultrasonic Blades, all by Ethicon Endo-Surgery, Inc. of Cincinnati, Ohio. Further examples of such devices and related concepts are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,322,055, entitled “Clamp Coagulator/Cutting System for Ultrasonic Surgical Instruments,” issued Jun. 21, 1994, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,873,873, entitled “Ultrasonic Clamp Coagulator Apparatus Having Improved Clamp Mechanism,” issued Feb. 23, 1999, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,510, entitled “Ultrasonic Clamp Coagulator Apparatus Having Improved Clamp Arm Pivot Mount,” filed Oct. 10, 1997, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,325,811, entitled “Blades with Functional Balance Asymmetries for use with Ultrasonic Surgical Instruments,” issued Dec. 4, 2001, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pat. No. 6,783,524, entitled “Robotic Surgical Tool with Ultrasound Cauterizing and Cutting Instrument,” issued Aug. 31, 2004, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2006/0079874, entitled “Tissue Pad for Use with an Ultrasonic Surgical Instrument,” published Apr. 13, 2006, now abandoned, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0191713, entitled “Ultrasonic Device for Cutting and Coagulating,” published Aug. 16, 2007, now abandoned, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2007/0282333, entitled “Ultrasonic Waveguide and Blade,” published Dec. 6, 2007, now abandoned, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2008/0200940, entitled “Ultrasonic Device for Cutting and Coagulating,” published Aug. 21, 2008, now abandoned, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2010/0069940, entitled “Ultrasonic Device for Fingertip Control,” published Mar. 18, 2010, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,023,071, issued on May 5, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; and U.S. Pub. No. 2011/0015660, entitled “Rotating Transducer Mount for Ultrasonic Surgical instruments,” published Jan. 20, 2011, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,461,744, issued on Jun. 11, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0029546, entitled “Ultrasonic Surgical Instrument Blades,” published Feb. 2, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 8,591,536, issued on Nov. 26, 2013, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/538,588, filed Jun. 29, 2012, entitled “Surgical Instruments with Articulating Shafts.” now U.S. Pat. No. 9,393,037, issued on Jul. 19, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/657,553, filed Oct. 22, 2012, entitled “Flexible Harmonic Waveguides/Blades for Surgical instruments,” now U.S. Pat. No. 9,095,367, issued on Aug. 4, 2015, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
Additionally, some of the foregoing surgical tools may include a cordless transducer such as that disclosed in U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0112687, entitled “Recharge System for Medical Devices,” published May 10, 2012, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,381,058, issued on Jul. 5, 2016, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; U.S. Pub. No. 2012/0116265, now abandoned, entitled “Surgical Instrument with Charging Devices,” published May 10, 2012, the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein; and/or U.S. Pat. App. No. 61/410,603, filed Nov. 5, 2010, entitled “Energy-Based Surgical Instruments,” the disclosure of which is incorporated by reference herein.
While several surgical instruments and systems have been made and used, it is believed that no one prior to the inventors has made or used the invention described in the appended claims.
The drawings are not intended to be limiting in any way, and it is contemplated that various embodiments of the technology may be carried out in a variety of other ways, including those not necessarily depicted in the drawings. The accompanying drawings incorporated in and forming a part of the specification illustrate several aspects of the present technology, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the technology; it being understood, however, that this technology is not limited to the precise arrangements shown.